


it will be us, always

by daybreakrumour



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crushes, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Teen Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27575924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daybreakrumour/pseuds/daybreakrumour
Summary: tsukishima snaps, yamaguchi apologises. tsukishima leads, yamaguchi follows. the icy, petulant villain and his obedient little servant.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91





	it will be us, always

not everyone is as well off as tsukishima kei.

he often takes yamaguchi to high class cafes, where the coffee is too rich and bitter, and the ornate cakes are carefully sliced to a foolish degree of accuracy. yamaguchi tries to return the favour, sometimes, by bringing him cookies that they eat on the bench at lunchtime, their laps scattered with crumbs. 

“that wasn’t terrible.” tsukishima says, like he does every time. as if to prove his point, he polishes off the rest of the cookie, and brushes the debris off his trousers. 

yamaguchi smiles brightly in reply, wind blowing his bangs into his face. he puts his tupperware container away with quivering hands. no new gloves just yet, though, with heating bills to pay. yamaguchi reckons another part time job may be the best way to go. 

kageyama and hinata begin arguing loudly somewhere behind them. tsukishima sighs, and yamaguchi watches the cloud of air he breathes out dissolve. they sit in silence for a few minutes, content.

“do you need money for the bus?” tsukishima asks suddenly, but it doesn’t seem like a question. his wallet is already in his hands, long fingers sifting through paper notes.

tsukishima had been doing this a lot as of late, after he found out that as well as working in the supermarket, yamaguchi assisted at the local elderly home, walked his neighbour’s dogs, babysat the kids of a family friend, and delivered newspapers on the weekend. the blond had never seemed to care for yamaguchi’s personal life, maybe out of polite respect, or just general apathy. but tsukishima had always been too perceptive for his own good, and he had pieced together yamaguchi’s financial instability during their first few days of high school. 

tsukishima is never invasive about it, never blunt. he always brings a second lunch with him under the premise that his mother thinks he isn’t eating enough, and sometimes yamaguchi finds 2000¥ notes in his trouser pocket after pe. but other than that, things remain the same between them. tsukishima snaps, yamaguchi apologises. tsukishima leads, yamaguchi follows. the icy, petulant villain and his obedient little servant. 

——— ☆ • ♧ • ♠ • ♧ • ☆ ———

yamaguchi isn’t quite sure when the change occurred, but even months later he is still getting used to it. it must’ve been around the time he had confessed. it must’ve been. 

of course he’s in love with tsukishima kei. it’s so blatantly obvious that tsukishima wasn’t even the slightest bit surprised when he told him. there was just a nod, and a non-judgemental, “okay.” 

to any other person, this would’ve seemed like a heartless rejection, but to yamaguchi, it was a simple acceptance of his feelings. and he was deeply thankful. his remarkable infatuation with tsukishima had remained unspoken but clearly noticed for four years. at some point, yamaguchi’s jealous admiration of his height transitioned into a hormonal crush, and then into a love so potent that he doesn’t think he could recreate such a thing with anyone else. he was okay with his feelings being unrequited, and he knew tsukishima was okay with his crush. there was an understanding. 

but soon enough, yamaguchi began to not understand anything at all.

tsukishima started to leave little gifts in his lunch to yamaguchi. it started off with extra food in his bento, then his favourite sweets, sometimes a full on cake. always subtle, always with a grumble and an excuse to accompany the small smile that yamaguchi occasionally caught.

last week he bought yamaguchi a new pair of gloves when he complained about his cold fingers. 

“they were too small for me, and the shop doesn’t do returns.” he had said flatly. but when yamaguchi ripped off the label and searched up the brand, he found an eye-watering price and an extensively thorough return policy. he wisely decided not to bring this up.

tsukishima buys him a new coat, soon enough. yamaguchi’s is an old one, of his grandfather’s, not even waterproof. it has patches on the elbows and a broken zip, and it’s sleeves only reach half way up his wrist. this new one, however, is a sturdy parka with a fluffy hood, and the lining is so soft that yamaguchi sighs whenever he touches it. he tries to refuse such a gift, he really does. but the look on tsukishima’s face is too much for him to bear, so he wears it everyday to show his appreciation.

their teammates begin to notice, too. tsukishima remains as rude and disrespectful as always, but everyone eyes yamaguchi’s new knee pads, and the branded trainers. a water bottle appears in yamaguchi’s bag, as well as a new phone case, when he broke his. yamaguchi reckons it’ll finally stop, when he gets a new job with a larger salary. he no longer spends his mornings before school at the supermarket. that’s why tsukishima is doing this, right? because he feels sorry for him, and because he pities how poor he is?yamaguchi can now afford to replace his old, broken things, and he explains this to tsukishima, one day. but tsukishima just curls his lip at him, places a new bobble hat in his arms and walks away.

——— ☆ • ♧ • ♠ • ♧ • ☆ ———

it’s all so incredibly strange, but tsukishima just does it all so normally. so when he starts spoiling him in different ways, yamaguchi has no choice but to go along with it. they start holding hands, when late october comes around. because it’s cold, only because it’s cold, of course.

during their weekly study sessions, where yamaguchi whines about binomial expansion and tsukishima crabbily explains trigonometry three times over, they sit on tsukishima’s bed. this is an abnormal occurrence; yamaguchi usually sprawls on the floor and tsukishima sits neatly at his desk. but this time they both learn against the wall, laptops balanced on their thighs. it reminds yamaguchi about how long tsukishima’s legs are. they sit, typing away in silence, with the occasional curse or grumble. tsukishima repositions himself and their knees brush, slightly. yamaguchi tries not to freak out (and fails), and he can practically hear the smug grin on tsukishima’s face.

they start to sit like this every week, when they cram before the physics test and when tsukishima yells at yamaguchi for forgetting his english answers. his ability to focus varies greatly; tsukishima occasionally glances over and corrects him, but his constant close presence makes yamaguchi’s attention span shorten. his eyes constantly drift to tsukishima’s pale hands skimming across the keyboard, and his ears are overly tuned to the blond’s grumpy huffs. and when yamaguchi complains about his sore shoulder from practising his jump floats, tsukishima deftly presses the tender area, and yamaguchi bangs his head against the wall in shock. it’s weirdly intimate and his gentleness is bizarre, but yamaguchi’s shoulder feels infinitely better when he’s done. 

the scathing insults yamaguchi has become accustomed to not taking personally begin to soften in tone. tsukishima speaks gentler, and it’s barely noticeable, for his voice has a natural bite. but yamaguchi can tell, he can always tell, he can hear the begrudging affection when he falls over on the ice and tsukishima sneers and berates him. this incident results in a hole in his jacket, but yamaguchi is able to skilfully sew up the tear with practised expertise. yet, a few days later, he is not surprised to find a new coat in his locker.

——— ☆ • ♧ • ♠ • ♧ • ☆ ———

yamaguchi is beginning to feel like it’s not about pity at all.

he’s beginning to think that tsukishima kei is spoiling(!) him.

he at first wasn’t quite sure if that was the right way to describe it, but now he’s quite certain.

they go to their regular practise tournament in tokyo, which yamaguchi has grown to dread, since last time he flipped and yelled at tsukishima for his lack of pride, and also because the captains of fukurodani and nekoma, bokuto kotarou and kuroo tetsuro, seem to make it their personal mission to take up as much of tsukishima’s time as possible. sugawara notices the sudden lack of tsukishima-snarky-energy, and takes it upon himself to keep yamaguchi company. yamaguchi appreciates it, but he can’t help but feel like he’s being babysat.

as if to make up for this, on their last day in tokyo, tsukishima takes him shopping. well, it was more like tsukishima complaining about the holes in his socks and saying he wanted company to buy new ones, but for some reason going to akihabara to make such a purchase. yamaguchi makes an awkward joke about how it feels like they’re on a date, and tsukishima doesn’t reply, which is the same as not denying it, in terms of yamaguchi’s wishful thinking. 

yamaguchi knows exactly where this is going, and hence desperately tries to hide any implication of preference to any store or item. however, with his knowledge of yamaguchi’s favourite animes and his freaky observation skills, tsukishima is able to procure two bags of carefully selected merch that make yamaguchi’s eyes prickle, slightly.

“happy birthday.” tsukishima says shortly, handing him the bags, and yamaguchi feels his eyes widen comically, because he himself had forgotten. he checks his phone, and sure enough, it’s november 10th, and he’s 16 now. 

there had never once been a reason for him to celebrate his birthday, he had knowledge of the date, certainly, but never a motive to notice it more than any other day. he had had no friends to celebrate with, and no parents to buy him gifts. he never expects birthday wishes, he never expects cards, and although sometimes he sobs about it in his room, he always hates himself after, because how dare he be so spoilt, so entitled? the fact he is even alive in this broken world is a gift, and he is grateful for that, he is thankful that his grandfather still lives. 

he tries not to let the tears overwhelm him as he blindly follows his friend, his crush, his probably soulmate, shellshocked and ecstatic. tsukishima keeps his face firmly turned away from him, but he holds his hand on the train, and when yamaguchi breaks down in the hedgehog cafe tsukishima had lead him to, he rolls his eyes and pulls him into a hug, his hands folded on yamaguchi’s back and his chin pressing against his head. 

it takes yamaguchi a while to calm down, and when he looks up and stares into still, unblinking golden eyes, he cries again, but it’s not because of the gifts, or the months of carefully hidden pampering. it’s not the fact tsukishima took him to tokyo on his birthday, and held his hand on the train. it’s not that at all. 

it’s the way tsukishima smiled, so uncharacteristically affectionate and fond, and how that told yamaguchi that maybe, just maybe, tsukishima may just love him back.

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> heyy!! hope u enjoyed :)) i literally have to edit this fic every three seconds cos there’s so many grammar errors lolol


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